Crown Prince Philippe and Crown Princess Mathilde - Current Events part 16

[Marengo]

Yesterday prince Filip opened 'Het Grote Seksperiment' (the great sexperiment); the 3rd great scientific exhibition at the Royal Palace. Goal of the experiment is that girls/women are as good in science as boys/men, to prove that the cliche that men are better in this area will be disproven.

An article and pictures from HLN here.

And a clip here.

[sgl]

Originally Posted by Marengo

Yesterday prince Filip opened 'Het Grote Seksperiment' (the great sexperiment); the 3rd great scientific exhibition at the Royal Palace. Goal of the experiment is that girls/women are as good in science as boys/men, to prove that the cliche that men are better in this area will be disproven.

An article and pictures from HLN here.

And a clip here.

Thanks for the photos. I think that it is very admirable that Prince Phillippe was there to lend his support to this exhibition. It is wonderful that attention is finally being paid to the issue of the attitudes of society toward girls and science.

[Villemann]

Originally Posted by Marengo

Yesterday prince Filip opened 'Het Grote Seksperiment' (the great sexperiment); the 3rd great scientific exhibition at the Royal Palace. Goal of the experiment is that girls/women are as good in science as boys/men, to prove that the cliche that men are better in this area will be disproven.

An article and pictures from HLN here.

And a clip here.

Forgive me, if I have missed something on this thread, but it seems to me that your Crown Princess Mathilde is very interested in women's rights. I noticed she hosted a lunch on The International Womens Day in March, but can anyone tell me why she has chosen to put her efforts into that line of work? So many Eurtopean Crown Princesses have gone for the charity work, so I find it quite refreshing that Mathilde is doing something different!

[johann]

Originally Posted by Villemann

Forgive me, if I have missed something on this thread, but it seems to me that your Crown Princess Mathilde is very interested in women's rights. I noticed she hosted a lunch on The International Womens Day in March, but can anyone tell me why she has chosen to put her efforts into that line of work? So many Eurtopean Crown Princesses have gone for the charity work, so I find it quite refreshing that Mathilde is doing something different!

You are right, Mathilde has done quite a lot in this field of activity. The Princess Mathilde Fund focussed on women´s rights and related topics back in 2004 (women and the multicultural society), 2005 (women and economics) and 2006 (women and health). IIRC the first women´s day lunch was hosted in 2007. Mathilde also participates in many events of Markant, a network of enterprising women in Belgium (being a former enterprising woman herself during her days as speech therapist). During economic trips she tries to support the businesswomen in attendance and also gets in touch with local women: e.g in South Africa (alongside with Mrs. Mbeki) she visited a SAWID(=South African Women in Dialogue) project and delivered a speech. Not sure if she also zoomed in on female topics during her study of psychology, but it would fit into her profile.
As for her motivation: As far as I understood she emphasizes the power of women due to her understanding of the underestimated and yet central role of women in society. Women´s rights are not taken for granted, neither is gender equality. Women are still disadvantaged and yet they have a lot to offer and this is what is highlighted by awarding projects with the Princess Mathilde Prize for example. So it´s her small contribution to boost the (self-)esteem of women in our society I guess.

[Villemann]

Originally Posted by johann

You are right, Mathilde has done quite a lot in this field of activity. The Princess Mathilde Fund focussed on women´s rights and related topics back in 2004 (women and the multicultural society), 2005 (women and economics) and 2006 (women and health). IIRC the first women´s day lunch was hosted in 2007. Mathilde also participates in many events of Markant, a network of enterprising women in Belgium (being a former enterprising woman herself during her days as speech therapist). During economic trips she tries to support the businesswomen in attendance and also gets in touch with local women: e.g in South Africa (alongside with Mrs. Mbeki) she visited a SAWID(=South African Women in Dialogue) project and delivered a speech. Not sure if she also zoomed in on female topics during her study of psychology, but it would fit into her profile.
As for her motivation: As far as I understood she emphasizes the power of women due to her understanding of the underestimated and yet central role of women in society. Women´s rights are not taken for granted, neither is gender equality. Women are still disadvantaged and yet they have a lot to offer and this is what is highlighted by awarding projects with the Princess Mathilde Prize for example. So it´s her small contribution to boost the (self-)esteem of women in our society I guess.

Thanks, it is good to see a European Crown princess trying to branch out into other fields than "just" charity done the traditional way.

[sgl]

I agree! It is great to see Mathilde heading in this direction. She is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in.

[Marengo]

Princess Mathilde is named by Vanity Fair as one of the best dressed women int he world. We have a seperate thread about that and I moved the posts from this thread there. Look at the thead in the royal house of Fashion, here.

[iloveroyals]

It's very interesting that Princess Mathilde has decided to focus her energies on women's rights and women's entrepreuneurial efforts. It is indeed a very worthy cause, not as well advertised in western countries as it should be. It struck me as a bit out of character at first because she is such a perfect mother, such a natural with children that I would have thought children would have been her cause of choice, but on second thought, her previous experience and her firm yet non-aggressive style will serve her well. How does it compare with Queen Rania's efforts in that direction ? I am just curious, and you can refer me to the appropriate threads.

[sgl]

I was wondering if Princess Mathilde is going to Beijing? I apologize if this has been stated in another thread, but I couldn't find it.

[Marchesina]

Yesterday I was watching the opening cerimony on tv and when the Belgian team came into the stadium the television camera focused on CP Philippe, but he was alone. I saw also Willem-Alexander and Maxima(they were so happy and cheerful)with and orange flag for him and for her a scarf, obviously orange. King Harald and Queen Sonja, on the contrary were so serious;there were also Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia with the tipical fans and the Grand Dukes of Luxembourg.

[LadyLeana]

I didn't see CP Mathilde either, and in the press they only named CP Philippe as going the the Olympics, so I guess she stayed home with the kids.

[johann]

Mathilde and the kids are holidaying at the Belgian North Sea coast while Philippe is in Beijing. They were spotted out and about in Knokke-Heist some days ago. According to local rumours Philippe and Mathilde probably own a house there.

[johann]

And there will be a change in Mathilde´s office on September 1st. Mathilde´s current advisor Anick Van Calster is appointed as new Belgian ambassador in the United Arab Emirates. Van Calster was Mathilde´s advisor for the last two years and served as the court’s socio-economic advisor prior to this position. Mathilde´s new advisor is a familiar face though: Machteld Fostier. She was Mathilde´s first advisor from June 2000 till September 2006. She then moved to Washington, served as deputy chief of the Belgian embassy and now returns to her old position.

[johann]

Princess Mathilde hits the cinemas in Mexico and Latin America within the framework of the latest World Aids Conference (Mexico City, August 3-8). Mathilde, in her capacity as UNAIDS and UNICEF Special Representative for Children and AIDS, delivers a 60 sec video message in Spanish on the sad thematic of children and Aids. If I got it right she highlights that children, youngsters and their parents are keyplayers in the fight against Aids.
The video message will be aired in 1.500 Cinepolis cinemas in Mexico and Latin America prior to the feature movies and they hope to reach 90% of all 35 Million cinema-visitors in this region with it.

This initiative is made possible by the support of Alejandro Ramirez, CEO of Cinepolis. Alejandro Ramirez and Mathilde have been appointed as Young Global Leaders back in 2005/06. They both attended the Young Global Leaders meeting in Dailan/China last September, just like Pieter Piot the UNAIDS director, so I assume the three of them did a bit of brainstorming and set up this project back then. It seems UNAIDS and their royal representatives CP Mette-Marit (who is participating in a poster campaign) and Princess Mathilde are into media campaigns now, a proved instrument to raise awareness.
The message was recorded a few months ago when Mathilde was still pregnant with her fourth child. Not sure if Mathilde can speak Spanish or if Queen Fabiola just taught her how to fake she can speak Spanish, but it doesn´t sound bad to my non-Spanish ears.

The video clip is available at the homepage of Unicef Belgium (click on video next to Mathilde`s thumbnail pic)
Go to www.unicef.be choose Nederlands or Francais and then the main page should show up with the video link below the headline “Prinses Mathilde tegen HIV/Aids” (Dutch version) or “La Princesse Mathilde sur la SIDA” (French).

[Maxie]

Thanks a million for posting this, johann! I wonder who learned Mathilde to speak Spanish (I mean even if it's for this thing only, I'm not doing the same trick half as good...). Fabiola? Máxima?

[magnik]

Originally Posted by Maxie

Thanks a million for posting this, johann! I wonder who learned Mathilde to speak Spanish (I mean even if it's for this thing only, I'm not doing the same trick half as good...). Fabiola? Máxima?

She know before marriage english, italian which is similar to spanish, french and dutch. She could know it for school.
Monarchie - Princess Mathilde

http://www.uclouvain.be/86078.html

[jinigirl]

In her CV they say she speaks french, dutch, english and italian

[stephanievl]

It is really great from her that she does this for UNICEF. Nice to hear her speak spanish.

[magnik]

Originally Posted by stephanievl

It is really great from her that she does this for UNICEF. Nice to hear her speak spanish.

I just watch the video (thanks johann) and I think that she was read her text.

[sgl]

Since she speaks French and Italian, it would be possible for her to learn Spanish quickly. It is similar to French and Italian.